Monday, May 12, 2008

Here is A photo I wanted to share, from the author flap of the 1968 copy of MUMMY TEACHER I bought at Mandarake. By my reckoning, Kazuo Umezu was 32 at the time this was taken:

[click for larger version of the entire book flap]

I'm loosely paraphrasing this on the bus, but the author statement reads something like:"In uncharted regions of Africa, the practice of turning the dead into mummies persists even today. But no! It isn't limited to merely Africa-- this custom was once practiced in Japan, where once the Ashikaga Shogun was turned into what resembled a mummy as well. What if that mummy suddenly was revived in flash and rose from the dead? How horrible! (But still... it is quite fun to think about). From that initial premise, this manga [Mummy Teacher] was born."

@anonymous 1&2: He looks really striking, there's no two ways about it.

@mcgee: I think in a few weeks I'm gonna try to get in touch with Demerin and introduce the Same Hat community of Umezu lovers to them directly.

I've heard informally that here is a lot of interest in Fourteen (and they know that it's totally rad) but the content is the main reason I think Viz is avoiding it (and Left Hand of God). Rape scenes and mutilations, etc.

(unofficially) I've heard that they are doing another Umezu book after Cat-Eyed Boy, but it is a pretty tame one. I actually was surprised by how weird and yokai-centric it was. But yeah, it's not Baptism or Fourteen.

@myrto: Maruo is an interesting dude. He looks like a mix between cyberpunk and wong kar-wai's fallen angels. pretty cool dude. I want to find some pictures of Umezu when he was my age :)